Secret Life-Snatching Powder

Bibangtalmyeong-san

한글 비방탈명산 · Pinyin Mi Fang Duo Ming San

秘方奪命散

The transcription writes 大碗 for 大椀 and 癕 for 癰; the corpus forms are printed.

Composition 構成

Gwarugeun Gua Lou Gen
瓜蔞根 과루근 · Trichosanthes Root

8 g
Chief 君

2 don
Geumeunhwa Jin Yin Hua
金銀花 금은화 · Honeysuckle

2.8 g
Chief 君
Cheonsangap Chuan Shan Jia
穿山甲 천산갑 · Pangolin Scale (prohibited)

4 g
Deputy 臣

蛤粉炒, dry-fried with clamshell powder · CITES
Jeokjagyak Chi Shao
赤芍藥 적작약 · Red Peony

4 g
Deputy 臣
Jogak Zao Jiao
皂角 조각 · Gleditsia Pod

2.8 g
Deputy 臣

皂角刺, the thorns
Danggwi Dang Gui
當歸 당귀 · Korean Angelica

2 g
Deputy 臣

當歸尾, the tail rootlets, 5 fun
Bangpung Fang Feng
防風 방풍 · Siler

2.8 g
Assistant 佐
Baekji Bai Zhi
白芷 백지 · Dahurian Angelica

2.8 g
Assistant 佐
Paemo Bei Mu
貝母 패모 · Fritillaria

2 g
Assistant 佐

5 fun
Yuhyang Ru Xiang
乳香 유향 · Frankincense

2 g
Assistant 佐

5 fun
Gamcho Gan Cao
甘草 감초 · Licorice

4 g
Envoy 使

甘草節, the nodes
Jinpi Chen Pi
陳皮 진피 · Aged Tangerine Peel

2.8 g
Envoy 使

Total 40 g per packet (첩) · representative dosage — verify against source texts.

Received this formula from your practitioner? Amounts shown here are classical reference values — granule and prepared products differ. Always follow your prescribed dosage and directions.

Actions 效能

Supports the interior so that an abscess disperses of itself
Clears toxic heat and opens a malignant sore that has no name

Indications 主治

Pattern-based

Every kind of abscess and deep-rooted abscess (癰疽)
Unnamed malignant sore (無名惡瘡)
Yin abscess (陰疽) with a sunken, painless head

Biomedical correlates

Skin and soft-tissue abscess
Cellulitis with induration
Chronic indolent abscess

Source text 原文

Donguibogam 東醫寶鑑

治一切癰疽ㆍ無名惡瘡, 能內托令自消. 天花粉二錢, 穿山甲(蛤粉炒)ㆍ赤芍藥ㆍ甘草節各一錢, 防風ㆍ白芷ㆍ皂角刺ㆍ金銀花ㆍ陳皮各七分, 當歸尾ㆍ貝母ㆍ乳香各五分. 右剉, 作一貼, 好酒一大椀煎服. 《丹心》

Translation

Treats every kind of abscess and deep-rooted abscess and unnamed malignant sore; it is able to support the interior so that the sore disperses of itself. Trichosanthes root 2 don; pangolin scale dry-fried with clamshell powder, red peony and licorice nodes, 1 don each; siler, dahurian angelica, soapberry thorn, honeysuckle and tangerine peel, 7 fun each; the tail rootlets of Korean angelica, fritillaria and frankincense, 5 fun each. Cut the above, make one packet, and decoct it in one large bowl of good wine and take. — Dansim 丹心 (Donguibogam · Ongjeo)

Clinical commentary 臨床

This is 仙方活命飮 with the heat-clearing weight shifted onto trichosanthes root, and it is one of the three formulas the chapter names for a yin abscess — the sunken, painless, cold-looking sore — alongside 仙方活命飮 and 仙傳化毒湯. Soapberry thorn and pangolin scale are the piercing pair that open a way out; the tail rootlets of Korean angelica rather than the whole root are specified because the rootlets are taken to move Blood rather than build it. The whole packet is decocted in a bowl of wine, not water, which is the chapter's way of driving drugs to the surface. 奪命, life-snatching, is a name the Donguibogam gives to several emergency formulas and it marks urgency, not a mechanism; the history belongs to the name rather than to the action. **Contains pangolin scale, CITES Appendix I and prohibited in trade; it must be omitted.** A sore that is named an emergency in the source text is the kind now treated as a surgical infection: spreading cellulitis or a deep abscess needs antibiotics and drainage without delay. — Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.